Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Rotation Four

We're continuing with some concepts from last rotation: Library Manners for our younger students, Geography and Using an Atlas for Grade 2, and Country Research for Grade 3.


PreK 3 and PreK 4, and Kindergarten
Frosty the Snowman, by Jack Rollins
We read and sang the song about Frosty the snowman, who magically comes to life one day and plays with all of the children who created him.  We talk about coal, corn cob pipes, and the reason Frosty has to hurry on his way (to escape the sun!)  The illustrations in this version are like a Pixar movie - very realistic and three-dimensional.  Now we're all hoping for snow!




The 12 Days of Christmas, illustrated by Tad Hills
This is a fun version of the song with each flap revealing the new gift!  Two pigs are the main characters, with the gentleman pig giving the partridge, turtle doves, and so on.  It's a good listening test, too, to see if we can remember all of the gifts as we read through the days.  There are great opportunities to talk about different kinds of birds and other vocabulary (lords, maids, pipers!) And of course, we sing at the end!



Grade 1
Petunia's Christmas, by Roger Duvoisin
This classic Christmas story shows us the true meaning of friendship.  Petunia's friend is in danger of being sold as someone's roast goose.  She will do anything to save him - who would have thought a goose could raise money?  She finds a way and the happy ending is a real heart-warmer.






Grade 2
The Day of Ahmed's Secret, by Florence Parry Heide and Judith Heide Gilliand
This is a wonderful book to read when talking about setting in a story.  The author takes us through the sights, smells, and sounds of a busy market in Cairo.  We feel the hustle and bustle as we watch Ahmed go through his day.  All the while, he holds a secret close to his heart and reveals it to us, and his family, on the very last page.

We have read stories that are set in Asia, Europe, and now Africa.  Which continent will be next?
Grade 2 students finished up their atlas stations in this rotation.  They learned to use the index to find locations and learned to skim and scan for other information on a map page (such as the key, captions, and text boxes).

Grade 3 is working on their Developing Countries research.  In this class, students examined their book for details about their country.  They are continuing to learn about the features of a book: index, Table of Contents, glossary, captions, headings, and more. 



Grade 4 & 5: Reading workshop!  Students learned about two new websites where they can find book recommendations: Guys Read and Book Adventure.  Both are found on our library home page: www.netvibes.com/aisb